


I Want to Know Your Plans

by ihopeyousuffer



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Fluff, M/M, WWE SummerSlam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-03 00:25:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15807588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ihopeyousuffer/pseuds/ihopeyousuffer
Summary: Sometimes, when everything else falls into place, it's easier to see the piece that's still missing.At SummerSlam, Seth gets both his title and his best friends back, but what he needs is something else entirety.





	I Want to Know Your Plans

Seth’s walk up the ramp felt like a walk through another universe. There was a smile on his face, the Intercontinental Title in his hand and Dean by his side. He hesitated to describe it as floating, in fact he felt very present and more than a little bruised, but his head was several feet above his body when his colleagues rushed to meet him backstage. He collected congratulations as quickly as he could, eager to get back to the locker room and clean off the layer of sweat that was drying on his skin. After a few moments Dean stepped back as Roman appeared and wrapped his arms around Seth in a back pounding hug.

“Nice to see that thing back where it belongs.” Roman said, smiling as he pulled away. He knocked on the belt slung over Seth’s shoulder with two knuckles. “Never should have left in the first place.”

“You’re next.” Seth said and Roman rolled his eyes, all good nature and solid confidence. 

“You bet your ass I am.”

Dean cleared his throat, attracting both their attention back to him. Seth raised an eyebrow when he said nothing but Dean just aimed a meaningful look over his friends’ shoulders. He turned his head to follow and felt his heartbeat skip when he realized what he was being made aware of. “It’s hilarious that he thinks he can act casual in that paint.” Dean snorted.

It really was a sight. Finn Bálor stood alone in the entrance to the hallway, pointedly looking anywhere but Seth’s direction and picking absently at the tape on one of his wrists. He was half way to becoming the demon, stark outlines of teeth still flesh colored and surrounded by black covered his skin and most of a tongue dipped and shined and ended just above a pair of familiar work out shorts. It was all very distracting, including the implication that Finn had stopped in the middle of his long makeup process just to meet him after his match. The thought uncoiled something warm and graceless in his chest.

A hand on his shoulder brought him back to reality. “You gonna go over there or are you just gonna keep making eyes at him?” Roman prodded, squeezing him gently. 

He turned his head sharply and blinked several times before the words fully sunk in. Roman just smiled at him, looking entirely too kind for him to handle when his emotions were already buzzing hot.

“We’re not blind, Seth.” He said simply, as if he was talking about the weather and not casually commenting on what Seth thought was his biggest secret.

“Yeah, man. How long have we been friends?” Dean interjected and Seth had to breathe for a moment to keep from completely losing his cool.

So many nights spent awake with his own thoughts, so many showers ran cold while he distracted himself with self loathing, and it had really been so obvious that even Dean and Roman could see it? The thought made him feel hysterical and he just managed to keep from choking out a laugh. He had been torturing himself, torturing Finn, with indecision over something that was apparently written on his face. While he was busy trying to piece together his feelings, his friends had already figured them out.

“Dude, stop thinking so loud and get your ass over there.” Dean said, breaking him out of his thoughts once more with a hard shove forward. The movement must have caught Finn’s peripheral because he looked up very suddenly and met Seth with a smile that could only be described as beaming. Dean laughed and said something else under his breath but Seth was past listening, his ears already filled with the roaring of intention as he started his way over.

“Hey.” Seth said very smartly once he was standing close enough to use his normal speaking voice.

“Hey.” Finn replied, somehow making it sound smooth instead of simple. His smile had changed during Seth’s approach. This one was smaller, more private but just as genuine and it made Seth’s heart tick just a bit faster. Finn reached up slowly and pressed two fingertips to the belt on Seth’s shoulder before languidly, reverently, sliding them down the expanse of the hard metal. “It looks good on you.” He said, though his eyes had been on Seth’s face the whole time.

“Did you just come from makeup?” He asked instead of giving in immediately to the rush of blood that Finn had just chased up his throat. He brought his own hand up, fingers almost reaching Finn’s chin before Finn caught it and raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yes and I barely managed to escape to come say hi, so don’t get any ideas about messing it up before I get out there.” He laughed, eyes twinkling with the challenge of it. 

“So I can mess it up after then?” He asked, barely above a whisper and something quiet and low escaped from Finn’s throat without him meaning to. He let go of Seth’s hand and went to rub at the back of his own neck before realizing his mistake and stopping short with a frustrated sigh.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Rollins.” He said, and though his voice was teasing his suddenly slumped shoulders and tight lips gave him away.

Seth swallowed hard, recognizing that resigned look on Finn’s face as the one he usually used as an excuse to run. “Guess you’ll just have to trust me.” He said, forcing the words out of his mouth before he could scare them away. Finn’s eyes jumped back to his. He stared at Seth for a long moment, his gaze searching and earnest, probably wondering, not for the first time, if things had actually changed or he was simply setting himself up for another hard fall. Seth felt his heart break just a little with the realization of how long he had made Finn wait for this moment.

They had circled around each other for months, probably longer if he were being honest. They would find new buttons to press, new limits to test, and new hints to drop until it became too much and they’d spring back like a hand brushing a hot stove. Neither wanted to rush so hard that the other would end up too far away in the recoil, but they also couldn’t seem to stop it completely. Seth couldn’t place when the antagonizing had turned friendly, or when being friendly had turned to flirting, or even when the flirting had turned to quiet nights in hotel rooms where they watched shitty movies and sat too close to each other on beds too big to excuse their bodies pressed side by side. Because it had all been harmless until it wasn’t. And it had been nothing until it was _something_. And Seth had watched those tired, reconciling looks appear more and more often as he wasted time trying to figure out what that _something_ was.

Surrounded by their coworkers, with a belt on his arm and another dude’s sweat on his skin, was a hell of a time to have such an epiphany.

Still, after all this time he knew he had no right to ask Finn to trust him and he was about to say as much when Finn cut him off.

“I do.” He said, voice steady. “Trust you, I mean.”

Something about the way he said it felt like a test. Finn trusted him with a lot of things. He trusted Seth to catch him and to know his coffee order and to play music they both liked when it was his turn to choose in the rental cars. But to trust him to do the right thing, make the right choice and not break Finn’s heart? That was something else entirely. 

He looked around them quickly to make sure no one was looking and when he saw that they were being largely ignored he leaned in to breath against Finn’s ear. “Find me after.” He whispered. He pulled back, biting his lip to try and keep the nervous smile off his face. Finn’s eyes darted down to catch the movement and he coughed, taking a step back and out of Seth’s space.

“If I don’t head back they will actually kill me.” He said and Seth thought it sounded strained compared to before.

“Go.” He urged, laughing softly. “Else you’re gonna have to fight like this and let me tell you, the demon is way less intimidating in basketball shorts.”

 

\---

 

When Finn finished his match he did his best not to outright bolt to the gorilla, and when he succeeded in that feat of self control he would have given himself a pat on the back. Except his celebration was missing one thing.

He craned his neck around to look for Seth, trying not to be completely obvious as he paused to talk and accept congratulations from Becky as they passed each other in the madness of backstage. He must have not been hiding it well because she let him go with a fist bump and a supportive smile and he wondered exactly how much of his anxiety was written across his face.

He was thankful, not for the first time, that he had the demon on him that night. Letting it wash over him, letting the raw animal nature of his alter ego take over, had been both cathartic and just the distraction he needed from his own winding thoughts. They were back in full force now however, only growing louder as he slipped from the crowds of people and into the quiet hallway that led to the men’s locker room.

Had Seth changed his mind? Had he just projected what he wanted in the other man’s words? Had he finally scared him off for good? He thought of the promise he had made to himself and wondered if he had finally fucked it up so spectacularly that there was no coming back this time.

After rehab Seth had become this weird constant in his life, always doing heinous things like looking at him, and laughing at his corny jokes, and putting his hand around his waist to whisper something sarcastic in Finn’s ear. Sometimes those looks would be heated. Sometimes those touches would linger. And somewhere between movie nights and gym sessions and tense hotel rooms he had given up on trying to stop his hopeful heart from reading too deeply into it. Despite it all he couldn’t ignore the way that Seth would sometimes freeze, his brown eyes would fill with something like fear, and he would shrink inside himself until an invisible and untrustworthy force would defrost him and pull him back for one more round.

So Finn promised himself that he wouldn’t push too hard, no matter how badly he wanted to, because it hadn’t been so long ago that he had been the one slinking away to stew in his misery. He understood better than anyone that sometimes happiness came with too much baggage to really be trusted that easily.

Finn was so busy spiraling that he barely noticed the other body in the hallway before he almost collided with it. An apology died in his throat as he looked up and saw Seth Rollins, staring down at him with hungry eyes.

And… oh. Maybe he hadn’t needed to worry at all.

“Follow me?” Seth asked, voice as rough as gravel and Finn could only nod before Seth grabbed his wrist and dragged him into an empty office. They were barely inside before Finn was crowded against the wall, one of Seth’s hands on his chest, solid enough to be filled with intention but gentle enough to not smudge the paint there. He took him in, noted his change of clothes into a simple t-shirt and sweats. His hair, still damp from a shower, was tied back in a loose bun and as he breathed heavily into their shared space Finn could smell the mint of his toothpaste. Seth leaned in close, stopping just before their noses could brush and Finn thought he would explode with the effort it took to stay still. But he needed Seth to be the one to do this, needed this to be his choice completely and utterly and irrevocably so that he’d never have to ask himself again if it was all in his head.

He kept his eyes open, steady and waiting until Seth seemed to find what he was looking for and pressed their lips together. His kiss was slow and burning, spreading heat through Finn’s body like magma. He felt the hand on his chest slide to the back of his neck and brought his own hands up to cup Seth’s face making him hum and surge forward with a new ferocity. He pressed Finn against the wall with the length of his body and grabbed onto his waist with his other hand. He remembered briefly that he was still in his gear when Seth’s fingers found bare skin, and he wondered if he tasted like paint before the thought was chased away by Seth’s tongue licking into his mouth.

Suddenly the kiss was over and Seth had laid his forehead against Finn’s, breathing heavy and ragged against his cheek. “I’m sorry. Should we talk? We should probably talk.” He blurted out, wincing slightly before opening his eyes again to look at Finn. He couldn’t help but smile at that and he traced Seth’s cheekbone with his thumb softly, mostly just because he could now and he was over denying himself simple pleasures like getting to touch Seth Rollins.

“Probably.” He said, his fingers sliding down until he was tracing Seth’s bottom lip. “But I imagine we’ve got about ten minutes before people start looking for us, and I distinctly remember you saying something about messing up my makeup.” He flashed his best shit-eating grin then and Seth practically growled as he pulled him back into another kiss, this one exceptionally more vicious than the first.

“You are a demon.” His voice rumbled into Finn’s cheek as his lips found their way down to his neck. He grabbed Finn’s hips with both hands and pulled him in, bruising and desperate as Finn groaned into his hair. He wrapped both his arms around Seth’s shoulders and let himself fall completely into the moment.

No matter how many times he dreamt of this, nothing could compare to the real tangible feeling of Seth’s lips on his skin. He bit and sucked and dragged his mouth across Finn’s shoulders and then back up to his mouth where his tongue dipped across Finn’s teeth and made him shiver. He ran his hands under Seth’s shirt, feeling the soft fuzz and hard abdomen in a completely new and exciting light. Throwing Seth around a ring had not prepared him for the way his abs flexed and trembled as he dragged his nails across them. Finn was already half hard by the time Seth wrapped his hands around his ass and hoisted Finn up to his hips. With nothing but his trunks on, he was sure Seth could feel it as well.

His senses, having terrible timing and an obvious vendetta against him, decided to show up in that moment and he groaned as he pulled his head back and away from Seth’s fervent kisses.

“I know that I encouraged this but we gotta pause.” Finn groused. Seth immediately set him down and put some space between them, which was sweet of him but also maybe the worst thing that had ever happened to Finn in his whole life.

“Are you ok?” Seth asked, eyes searching his face for what had gone wrong. His pupils were blown but he was recovering well.

“I’m great. You’re great, more than great. That’s the problem. I just…” He blew out a long breath and scrubbed his hand along his face in an attempt to clear his head, “I’ve been waiting for this a long time, and if we don’t stop now then I’m gonna do something dumb. And I don’t want the first time we fuck to be in the Barclay’s Center.”

There was silence for the briefest second before Seth starting laughing so hard that he had to bend over and shove his fist in his mouth to keep quiet. It was infectious, always had been, and Finn found himself laughing along with him until they were both a mess, grabbing each other for stability as they choked back tears. 

They had almost made it back to sanity before Finn took one look at Seth and lost it once more. “What’s that look on your face?” He gasped and Seth pointed to a spot over Finn’s shoulder. Finn turned to see and realized instantly why Seth looked the way he did. Black was smudged along the wall there, starting at about waist high and moving upward, stark and angry against the light grey wall.

Finn scrubbed his hand through his hair and tried to take it seriously. “Think they’ll know it was us?” He asked, pushing down a laugh. 

“Us? What do you mean us?” Seth teased. “Only one of us is running around covered in body paint.”

Finn cocked his head to the side and looked Seth up and down. “You sure about that?” He asked and lifted his fingertips to Seth’s face. He swiped across a particularly large spot and held it up so Seth could see the black that came away with him. “You look like you’ve been making out with a tar pit.”

Seth looked down and cursed softly, taking in the state of his shirt and hands which were both now properly stained. “So the plan is we sneak out and never talk about this again?” He suggested, his smile rueful and mischievous all at once.

“I wont tell if you don’t.”

They did end up talking about it again several hours later after Finn checked to make sure the coast was clear enough to smuggle Seth into a bathroom and toss some wipes into a stall. Finn took a shower of his own and the spent the rest of the show trying not to be obvious about how his and Seth’s orbits kept intersecting.

In Seth’s hotel room that night Finn laid on his chest and enjoyed the echo in his ribs as he mused about the shocked face of some executive when he walked in and saw the stain on his office wall the next day. Finn laughed with him and pressed his lips to Seth’s skin, humming happily when Seth tightened his arms around him. 

Seth holding him just like that, his heart beat loud against Finn’s ear and his fingers tracing circles into Finn’s back, was all he needed in that moment. Talking, he thought, could wait just a little bit longer.

**Author's Note:**

> This is still short but a lot longer than I imagined when I started fleshing this idea out on the bus at 1 am. I don't know if I'll go anywhere else with it but I've discovered how much I like writing these two, so who knows.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
